HAWTHORN midfielder Shaun Burgoyne is upbeat about his team's chances of toppling Geelong for the first time since 2008 on Friday night.

Despite losing narrowly to the Cats twice this year and on all six occasions since their Grand Final triumph nearly three years ago, Burgyone is sure that the Hawks' best will be good enough.

"We're very confident within ourselves that if we play our best footy, we can beat any team," Burgoyne said on Tuesday.

"We'll go into this week very confident. You need to - it's finals footy.

"Our whole year has been building and preparing for this next month of footy, and it starts Friday night."

The 28 year-old didn't expect the recent hoodoo against Geelong to occupy too many of the team's thoughts ahead of this week's clash, which will see the winner through to a preliminary final.

"It's been a pretty big question asked, why haven't we beaten them since then?" Burgoyne said.

"But we've been around the mark in every one of those games.

"We've led in some games and been unable to close it out, and they've overrun us.

"So we'll probably speak about it very briefly, but we won't take too much into it.

"It's a different game this week, there's going to be different players, it's a different intensity.

"We'll be very positive."

Burgyone was one of eight key players rested for Saturday's final round win over Gold Coast, and said his body had benefited from the break.

"I'm feeling really good, not having to worry about waking up sore with corkies and so on," he said.

"It was the first game I've missed this year, so I was really happy to have a rest and get ready for this week.

"Normally Mondays and Tuesdays you're pumping a lot more recovery into your body, with the extra sessions you're doing in the pool and the ice baths and so on.

"So the players that had a rest are feeling very good at the moment, and hopefully we can hit the game this week a lot fresher.

"It was definitely a bonus."

Burgoyne said the rested group, which also included Lance Franklin, Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis, Brad Sewell, Max Bailey, Cyril Rioli and Grant Birchall, would train harder than their teammates this week to ensure they're at their sharpest when the ball is bounced on Friday night.

A member of Port Adelaide's premiership team in 2004, Burgoyne also described his excitement at once again being in a team capable of mounting a challenge for the flag.

"You play footy to win premierships, and you play footy to play in finals," he said.

"It's one of the reasons I came to Hawthorn, I thought there was a chance of doing something special here."